Shifting Life (Skull Shifters MC Book 1)

by Tricia Wagner

  I can feel his body shaking and it takes me a minute before I realize he is laughing. “Are you laughing?” He doesn’t speak, but I can still feel him shaking. Seriously? That was probably one of the most beautiful moments in my life and he’s laughing at me. I feel the tears start to sting the back of my eyes. Literally a repeat of the first time only this time it only took the guy forty-eight hours to realize he was done with me. I roll out from under him and run for the bathroom before the first tear falls. I lock the door behind me fall to the ground. “Babe, what are you doing? Unlock the door.” He knocks, “Just go.” My head falls to my knees, “I am not goin anywhere now come out here so we can talk.” Yeah, right. “No. I don’t want to hear what you have to say.” I sigh as he says, “I’m thinkin you do. But it doesn’t matter because you’re gonna hear it anyways.” I just sit there letting the silent tears fall. “Open the damn door before I bust it in.” I gasp, “You wouldn’t.” I hear him say, “Wouldn’t I?” He so would. I unlock the door from the floor, but don’t make any attempt to get up. The door swings open and Brantley looks down at me. “Babe, why are you cryin?” I snap, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because we just shared something that I thought was special and when you were finished you couldn’t even hold back from laughing at me.” “Look at me.” He barked this so I jumped and my eyes met his. “I was not laughin at you. You were beautiful. I was laughin at my damn self. I felt like I was sixteen all over again. Babe, do you know how long it’s been since I haven’t been able to make it ten minutes inside a woman?” Well, I guess that was a compliment unless you factor in the thoughts of him with someone else. “I don’t want to hear about your sexcapades. In fact, if you could just leave that would be great.” He runs his hand down my arm, “I’m not leavin and we’re goin to talk about why you would assume I would ever laugh at you after you gave me somethin like that.” I don’t think, I just blurt out, “Maybe because the last person I was with it took a year for him to get in there. Maybe because the morning after, he left me with a big fuck you while he drove off in my car with money from my safe. So excuse me for not feeling great about the next person I let in there laughing over me after we had finished.” I felt something in the air change and I looked up to see the fury rolling off of Brantley. I hadn’t even meant to say that out loud. “How long ago was this? What is his name?” I sigh because he wasn’t going to let this go, “Two years ago. His name is not important. I already pursued it legally. They found the car, but never found him.” Apparently, he doesn’t care, “What. Was. His. Name.” He said this so sternly that I wasn’t sure what to do. “Timothy Benedict.” With that Brantley was out the door. I hurried off the floor to follow. I grab sweats and a zip up on my way by. “Where are you going? What are you doing?” “I need to make a call. Stay right here.” I nod because his voice left no room for argument.

  I took this time to finish dressing myself. Five minutes later, he was back and seemed to be a bit calmer. “We need to talk.” I shake my head instantly, “No we don’t. Not if it is about anything that happened this morning.” He puts his arm out, “Babe, it’s happening so come here and sit with me.” I walk over to the couch, and he pulls me onto his lap. Great. I needed to stay far away from him. “I want to sit over there.” He smirks, “I’m sure you do.” He said it as if he were saying “too bad.” Ughhhh. What am I supposed to do now? I just sit and stare at him. “First, you need to know that Timothy Benedict will be found and taken care of. No one messes with what’s mine. Second, I would never, ever take advantage of you. Not like that. Not ever. Third, I apologize for laughing in there. You completely undo me. I have never felt like I was actually making love to someone until this morning. That was beautiful and I appreciate you giving me that gift. Fourth, I need you to know I am serious when I said I wasn’t goin anywhere. I would never sleep with you and then leave you. I am going to protect you and I am going to take care of you. I promise.” Well. Some of that was nice, but there were some things to clarify. “I don’t want you to find Timothy. He is a part of my past I do not want to revisit.” His finger brushes a hair from my face, “You won’t be revisiting it babe. You won’t even see him. How much money did he take?” Hmmm. “Including the cost of the car?” He nods. “$150,142.29” His eyes bugged out of his head and I saw the little vein twitching in the side of his neck. I probably shouldn’t have told him that. “I am trying really hard to remain calm here, babe. He stole that much from you. How are you so calm?” I give a cynical laugh, “Well, I’ve had two years to come to terms with the guy I gave my virginity to, leaving the next morning and taking my property with him. And you’ve had about two seconds.” With that I heard a feral growl as I was set down on the couch. Brantley then, I kid you not, picked up my huge wooden coffee table (not light) and threw it across my living room. I crawled into the corner of the couch unsure of what to do. “I guess maybe I said too much.” He was trying to catch his breath. God, look what I did to this man. “Babe, please come out of the corner of the couch. I would never hurt you. You have to believe me when I say I let my temper fly, and as you can see I let that shit fly, but I would never, ever touch you in anger.” I realize I had curled up in a ball in the corner of the couch. I let my legs out and I start to head into the kitchen. I need coffee. Now. I am caught around the waist and pulled into his body. He looks down at me searching my eyes again when I look at him and say “I need coffee. Like yesterday.” He nods and lets me go.

  I turn on the Keurig and get the coffee mugs down. Assuming that Brantley will want some too I get out two k-cups. “Babe, we gotta have a conversation and then I got shit to do.” I snap my head up to him not realizing that I didn’t want him to leave until now. “What shit do you have to do?” Just like I figured he says, “Nothin for you to worry about.” I point to myself, “My shit?” He nods, “Your shit.” No. No. No. “I don’t want you to get into trouble. Please do not go after Timothy. With Jack, please don’t go too far. Make your point and be done with it. Please.” He shakes his head, “I won’t get into trouble. I’m with the MC for a reason babe. We live by our own set of rules. People respect them. Law enforcement respects them. They sometimes wish they had the ability to do the things that we do.” I didn’t want to cry again so I decided then and there that I was done crying for the day. I ignore him and walk back over to make another mug. I hand him his coffee and wait for mine to be finished. I hear him clanging around probably finding something to make for breakfast. I turn around and get my creamer from the fridge, add my sugar, and ask what I can do to help. “I’m makin French toast if you want some strawberries you can cut them up.” I nod because that sounded really good. I pull out the strawberries from the fridge and sit on a stool to cut them up. We make breakfast in silence and I am just waiting for him to start this “conversation” we need to have. I am completely lost in thought, to the point where I slice the knife into my finger. “Son of a motherfucking bitch.” Yep. That about sums it up. “Babe, what the fuck?” I’m holding onto what is left of my finger (exaggerating but that’s what it felt like) and trying to get to the sink without passing out. “I don’t do blood I can’t look at it. I will pass out.” He reaches for me, but I pull back, “Baby, let me see.” I shake my head, “I can’t it hurts. Oh my God, it hurts.” “Baby, look at me. I need to look at it or I can’t fix it.” His calming but stern voice gets my attention and I look away but take my hand away so he can see. “Shit, baby you may need stitches in this. I need to let it go to get some paper towels.” I knew it was bad, “First aid kit is under the sink in my bathroom. There will be stuff in there.” Shit, my breath caught. So much for not crying today.

  By the time he comes back I am literally feeling pale as a ghost and ready to drop. As he grabs my hand I hiss at the pain and turn to look at him. Before I realize what I am doing, I look at my hand. You can literally see through the different layers of my skin. I heard Brantley mutter “shit” and that is when everything went black. I feel something cool on the back of my
neck and then on my forehead. I blink my eyes open and look into the most mesmerizing blue eyes. Then I remember this could be my life. He literally takes my breath away. “Breathe, baby. I need to get this covered up and try to stop the bleeding. Then I need to take you to the ER. You definitely need stitches.” I nod, afraid that if I speak I may cry. “Ok, baby. I’m going to sit you up, but you can stay here while I patch you up.” I nod again. He wraps it as best as he can with far more gauze than necessary. I’m sure that’s so no matter what I won’t see the blood again. He lifts me off the ground cradling me in his arms. He carries me over to the door unsets the alarm and walks me out the door. He sets me in the passenger side of my SUV and goes back inside to, what I assume, is to lock up. He comes back out and gets in. “Babe, your insurance info, in your purse?” I nod, “Yes, my wallet.” “K. I got your purse so you should be all set.” I nod again trying to think of how I became so dependent on another person. If I had cut myself this morning and was by myself, I would have had to find a way to get through that. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been pretty, but I would have done it. Now, he has ruined me for the rest of my life. “Ruined.” It was whispered so he says, “What was that babe?” I sigh, “You’ve ruined me.” “What do you mean?” I try to explain, “Once you’re gone how will I ever be able to live? It’s been what? Not even forty-eight hours and I have become completely dependent on you.” He nods, “Good.” What? “That is not good. What happens when you leave? When you realize I’m not worth the trouble.” His voice is stern when he says, “Enough. I never want to hear you say that ever again. You have no idea how worth it you are. I intend to take you home and show you exactly what I mean as soon as you’re stitched back up. I’m not goin anywhere so you might as well get used to leanin on me.” Yeah. Right. “For now.” He looks over at me, “What?” I try to explain again, “You said you’re not going anywhere. What you mean is, you’re not going anywhere for now.” He’s getting mad as he replies, “No, what I mean is exactly what I said. Now that I’ve had you, I’m never letting you go.” Tears sting my eyes again, but I refuse to cry. I am not a crier. I sit patiently as we make our way to the hospital. I’m in a lot of pain, but I refuse to show it so I turn on some music and stare out the window. I almost fall asleep when we come barreling into the ER.

  I go to open my door, but before I can Brantley is there and lifting me up. “Brant, I hurt my hand not my legs. They still work.” “I don’t want you passin out again. Now, let me take care of you.” I sigh heavily thinking how ridiculous we must look. A man walking out says, “Sir, you can’t park here.” He throws the keys at him and tells him to move it if he needs to. “Seriously, this is not as big of a deal as you are making this.” His baby blues look at me and he says, “Baby, I watched you go sheet white and pass out in my arms less than twenty minutes ago. I need to make sure you’re ok, and I am going to do that. Just let me do what I gotta do.” What is there really to say to that? Nothing. So if he needed this I was going to give it to him. I rested my head on his chest and let him take command of the situation. “Sir, what seems to be the problem?” I roll my eyes because it is going to sound so stupid. I actually really am feeling funny though. Really light headed and I look down to see that I am now bleeding through all of the gauze he put on my hand. “Brantley.” But it is barely whispered before everything goes black again. I hear beeping as I flutter my eyes open. I try to speak but nothing is coming out. I look over and Brantley is holding my hand but his head is bowed and resting on the edge of the bed. I give him a slight squeeze and his head shoots up. “Oh thank God.” “What happened?” It comes out all scratchy and I hope he understood what I said. “One second babe. Let me get you some water.” I nod as he walks off. He comes back within minutes with water and helps me drink it. “Brantley. What is going on? All I did was cut my finger. Why am I laying in a hospital bed?” He explains, “You lost a lot of blood babe. Which you did not tell me you are anemic. When you lost so much your body couldn’t stay awake anymore. They had to do a blood transfusion and that’s why you probably feel like shit.” I nod. “I always have had a handle on my anemia. I never let my iron levels get down. It’s not like it’s something that is normally an issue.” He nods, “It is when you’re bleeding and passin out on me babe.” This was true, “Point taken. When can I go home?” He smiles, “Here pretty soon. They were just waiting for you to wake up. I have to go call Trance and Jason and let them know that you’re all right.” I nod and he walks off. “Well, look who decided to finally wake up.” My head snaps up at the voice. The last time I heard it he had a gun to my head. How did he get in here? “Time to go to sleep baby. When you wake up we will be able to start our lives together.” Before I can scream he must have injected something into my IV. Everything went black again.

  Chapter Five

  The first time I came to, it felt like I had a million pieces of glass poking into my brain. What is happening? I wasn’t awake long enough to even remember where I was. The second time I came to I could tell I was in the back of an ambulance. I slowly moved my head to see that Jack was driving the ambulance. This is not good. I need to get out of here. I start to sit up and see that my wrist is chained to the gurney that I am laying on. This is not happening. I literally just found happiness and this man was going to take it all away. He’s lucky I am cuffed and weak from a damn blood transfusion right now. I look to the side and see I have one free hand. I reach up into my hair and pull out a bobby pin. I have no clue what I am doing or if you can even unlock handcuffs with a bobby pin, but it seems like something that could happen in a movie. It’s worth a shot, right? I mess around with that and just when I think it isn’t going to work I hear it click. Holy shit. Seriously? I undo my wrist and look to see Jack is still focused on the road. I muster all the strength I can and wrap my arms around his neck. He starts to struggle and pushes the gas pedal forward. I can tell we are in a busy part of town and I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but I know that if he takes me, I will never see Brantley ever again. I need to fight for myself. I keep hold on his neck until it seems he’s going to pass out. We go off the road, and he hits the brakes right before we hit a tree. I throw the ambulance into park continuing my assault on his neck. He passes out and I jump out the passenger side door.

  I look around for help and see that there is a gas station right at the corner so I head there. I am weak and achy and all I want to do is curl up in a ball in Brant’s arms. I make it to the door and tell him to call 911. He does and I tell him my story. He goes up and locks the door just in case Jack wakes up. It doesn’t take long before I see my car come to a halt in front of the gas station. “That’s my- my I’m not sure what he is, but he’s a good guy you can open the door.” He looks from the door to me, “I would, but it looks like he is headin the other way darling.” What?! “Shit. NO! He will kill him. I don’t have time in my life to shop for “visiting my man or whatever he is in prison” you need to stop him.” He shakes his head, “I would not stand in front of a man defending his woman or whatever she is from the incident you just experienced.” Great. No help there. That’s when I hear the sirens and I see Brantley coming back toward the gas station. Thank God. He pulls at the door but figures out it is locked. The man starts to move toward it to get it unlocked and I see the glare on Brantley’s face that puts him to a stop. “Are you sure it’s ok to let him in here?” Instantly I say, “Yes, especially since if you don’t I will end up having to pay to have your door replaced. Hurry!” He fumbles with the locks and Brantley wings the door open as soon as the lock is disengaged. He comes to me and picks me up off the chair the old man had let me sit in. He doesn’t say anything he just holds me. My legs are wrapped around him and I think he is smelling me. His hands are roaming all over me. “Did he touch you?” Poor guy. “No sweetie. He didn’t get the chance. I woke up and got myself uncuffed. I choked him until he passed out and then ran over here.” He kisses me and says, “My brave girl. This is all my fault. You shouldn’t
have to be choking someone until they pass out to get away from them. Did you say you got yourself uncuffed?” I try to smile at him, “Thank God for bobby pins and action movies. I had no idea it would really work, but I knew I needed to try.” He lightly chuckles as he squeezes me closer to him to the point I don’t know if I could breathe. “Honey, you have to loosen your grip. I’m having trouble breathing. Remember I just had a blood transfusion here.” I say it light hearted but he loosens his grip a little and then starts walking with me wrapped around him to my car. “Do we have to go back to the hospital?” He shakes his head, “Not if you don’t want to.” Phew. “I want to go home.” He nods, “Then I’ll take you home.” I lightly chuckle, “Perks of being the Presidents woman I presume?” He smirks at me, “Among other things.” I shake my head and lean against the window.